


Variable Star

by CruelisnotMason



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Blow Jobs, Canon Universe, Family, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Just friends raising a child together, Long Live Feedback Comment Project, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant, Pining, Riding, Single Parent Keith (Voltron), Slow Burn, voltron s8 doesn't exist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:08:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CruelisnotMason/pseuds/CruelisnotMason
Summary: Watching them like this, with Yorak gradually relaxing in Keith’s arms, he realizes that he’d never think he'd like kids. And yet, seeing Keith like that just melts his heart.





	1. Chapter 1

The Blades of Marmora help to restore things everywhere around the galaxy and help where it’s needed. The work changed from saving a whole nation to individuals – but none of it is in vain. There are kids, women, men, who are without home and hope. The Blades can’t always give them back what they lost, even though people around the universe want to help and support, rebuild what’s left. Keith works hard, and every day he sees what’s left to do: Work that was building up over more than ten-thousand years, and still builds up to this day.

As if that’s not enough, there are many children who have lost their homes or parents, one case more heartbreaking than the next. It reminds Keith of days that long have been gone, his time at the orphanage, where every other day passed by in uncertainty of the future, in uncertainty if anyone would care.

It’s no wonder then, that one day, when he finds a young Galra baby on a mission and nobody is willing to take it in, he decides on a whim. It takes a few calls for him to decide that he’ll be the one who watches over the child until someone from her family finds her. It’s a tale as old as the world, where a parentless child stays lost.

Before the organization for intergalactic child adoption calls and gives Keith green light to adopt her, he already lost her heart to her. Keith ends up willingly stuck with Yorak (name a courtesy of Krolia) and he's more than happy he can continue care for her.

The first months are hard, juggling his humanitarian work and the missions with the Blades and his care for Yorak, but they are happy, nonetheless. Keith forgets everything around him, even talking to the other Paladins about it.

He remembers the fact that no one really knows what’s currently going on in his life the day Shiro gives him a call. The white fluff bobs when Shiro’s happy grin greets him on screen. Keith must look like he hasn’t slept in months on the other hand, which probably isn’t that far from reality.

“Shit, it’s been two months.”

“Yeah,” Shiro grins. “You promised to call, remember?” His smile is teasing, but gentle.

“Sorry,” Keith aspirates, eyes almost shutting close. It’s late in the evening when Shiro decided to check on him. It’s normal for the Captain of the Atlas to call late, during his after-work hours. More than once in his life, Keith curses himself for his decision to leave the Atlas crew and go work with the Blades instead.

“Don’t be,” Shiro reassures him. “You’ve been busy, right? You always keep those promises.”

“You could say that.” Keith smiles to himself. It’s good to see him again, and even better now that Keith can share his newest development in life.

Too late Keith notices that his eyes closed, and he’s halfway falling asleep.

"Keith."

He hears Shiro’s smile in his words and snaps his eyes open again, jolting out of the promise of sleep coming soon over him.

“Sorry.”

But Shiro gently laughs and Keith feels soothed again.

“Something happened. Something nice,” Keith tells him with a tired smile. Shiro perks up with a little crease in his eyebrows. He’s worrying, but Keith’s smile gets wider.

The explanation is quicker and simpler than the whole situation was and Shiro wears a surprised but understanding expression on his face. Before he can give a response to the story of how Keith became a father, they both hear a quiet gurgle.

“Is that—?”

"She's up,” Keith nods, his smile growing even bigger. "Do you want to see her?"

Shiro needs a second to process all the information, but his cheeks color red and he nods enthusiastically.

When he sees the small child with the purplish skin and hair in Keith's arms, his heart aches. He doesn't say anything at first, just smiles at them. The baby grabs onto Keith's hair and coos.

"She's beautiful," then with a glance at Keith, "you both are."

He can see Keith's cheeks redden - he smiles his most guarded smile back.

"That's Admiral Shirogane." Keith coos at Yorak. “I told you about him.” The baby, unable to speak yet, burps in response. Keith uses her small hand to wave at Shiro, feeling a little silly, but Shiro waves back with a giddy smile and Keith changes the thought in his mind; thinks of himself as a silly parent instead.

Shiro observes them, gaze tender and watchful. He leans closer to the screen, smiling down on the sleepy baby with purple skin.

"Listen, Keith, if you ever need something, I'm here and..."

_And I will do everything for you_. He doesn't say. But Keith gets the message. He hums in response, rocking the child in his arms.

“Are you getting enough sleep?”

“Relatively. Mom helps me. The Blades, too. You should see Kolivan with Yorak. He looks like a proud uncle.”

Shiro chuckles. “That’s hard to imagine.” His snicker sets Keith’s tired heart on fire. It’s too adorable. He laughs with him.

“I thought about giving him a ‘best space uncle’ mug, but I think some other Blades would get jealous.”

Shiro barks out a laugh and relaxes in front of the screen. There are few details aside from him, but Keith can make out his room in the darkness and his uniform on a clothes rail.

“Keith,” Shiro addresses him again with caution in his voice. “Try to get more sleep. Cut yourself some slack. Universe won’t be saved within a day.”

Keith raises an eyebrow at him, then looks down at the baby in his arms. Her hairy brows are furrowed, and she wears a typical sleepy baby expression. Her face is all crinkled up.

"I will take a holiday in a few quintants,” Keith says softly, rocking her back and forth. “But you’re one to talk.”

Shiro smiles and nods. “You’re right. But I will take mine too. Probably around the same time."

"Nice." Keith grins.

They sit like this and chat, voices tinny over the video call. Keith feels at peace; loves to listen to Shiro’s soft voice or to his breathing. It soothes him all over, and only when he’s too tired to stay seated, he tells him goodbye.

It's still a couple of days until he’s free. When Keith is not working, he spends time with Yorak or together with her, with some of the Blades. They teach her bits and pieces of Galran language when they play with her. Keith watches and learns with her. He always wanted to but there hasn't been time for it during the war.

Keith thinks, that he left the Blades for this: To have friends and family close; to have a safety network for when he can’t carry on. It wouldn’t have been possible with the Blades being the same organization as before, but it is now.

They grew together like a family; and even Kolivan seems to soften up over the offspring. He loves the smallest Blade, even though he’s doing his best not to show it. There’s no question that Krolia loves her, too. She’s the person who is most around Yorak right after Keith, cuddles and carries her whenever she can. Keith thinks, there’s a whole new side to Krolia that he didn’t knew before.

One day she has tears in her eyes. "I'm so happy you accepted the name Yorak for her. Do you know what it means?"

Keith smiles and nods tentatively.

"Loved one." He learned it during her Galran lessons.

Krolia gestures him to come closer, and he does. He presses into Krolia's side and hugs her and the baby.

"It was the name I would have chosen for you, if, you know, it wouldn't have been painfully obvious that it isn't an Earth name."

Raising a child is only ‘easy’ if you have five people raising it simultaneously with you. Even though everyone paid attention to Yorak, there was still effort needed.

Sometimes she would cry for no apparent reason, living through the trauma she must have experienced while losing her parents. Keith holds her all night. He purrs (something he found out he's able to as a Galra) and Yorak purrs back. Then it's all fine for another couple of hours.

In the morning hours, when he finally put her to bed, Keith dreams of a holiday together with Shiro. He closes his eyes to soothe his heart and calm his nerve-wrecking thoughts about knowing he will be with him soon again. Even with the Blades, with Krolia, Kolivan and Yorak, Keith feels the loneliness nudge at the corners of his mind. He misses the times when he was at Shiro’s side every day.

*

On the day of their first holiday, Keith picks Shiro up from the Atlas. While he's there he greets and hugs the other Paladins. It’s not the first time they hear about Yorak, but the first time they see her in person. Hunk nudges his hip against Keith’s and grins. “How are we, Galra daddy?”

“Hunk,” Keith snorts. “Please.”

Everyone is amazed by the small Galran and falls in love with her instantly. Allura tells her she’s the strongest little baby she ever met, Lance coos at her next to Allura. Hunk gives her small treats. Pidge is entirely smitten by the way Yorak softly nibs at her fingers.

Shiro gives last instructions to Allura about flying the Atlas before he and Keith are ready to leave. Thankfully Allura can pilot the Atlas, too. She’s good, fast and steady and skillful, far more skillful than Shiro, so that he seriously considers sharing the Captain seat more than once with her.

Keith came with the Black lion: The Blades’ smallest ships aren’t big enough; They are slick, blue and black, but don’t have enough space to fit the three of them and additional suitcases. Shiro gets comfortable in the backseat of Black, while Keith starts the motor. During their fly, Shiro is responsible for Yorak. First, it doesn’t seem to pose an issue; She stays pliant in his arms as Keith pilots them through the Gantaxel Belt, but soon Yorak throws a fit. It must be a combination of several new people and the fact that she doesn’t know Shiro that well, either. Shiro tries his best to calm her but she keeps crying.

"Can you take over? I will hold her," Keith says, then freezes. Of course, Shiro can't pilot the Black Lion. "Uh-"

"It’s alright,” Shiro reassures, seemingly unfazed. “Auto pilot will do until the landing."

Keith gets up and takes Yorak, coos and holds her tight.

"It's okay baby. Today was a lot, huh?"

He leans against the arm rest of Shiro’s chair and Shiro can look at them from up close.

Watching them like this, with Yorak gradually relaxing in Keith’s arms, he realizes that he’d never think he'd like kids. And yet, seeing Keith like that just melts his heart.

"You're great." He says it before he can stop himself. Keith shots him a surprised look when he peaks up. Shiro clears his throat.

"She loves you so much and you’ve taken on being her father effortlessly.” Shiro notes the overwhelmed smile on Keith’s face, but can’t stop himself from praising him.

“It's amazing. I'm proud of you, Keith,” he adds.

Keith turns away a bit to hide the blush that's creeping up his cheeks.

"I had help,” he says after a while, looking down on Yorak’s little face, traces her little features with his eyes. “It wasn’t so much effortlessly as it was shared work. They helped me so much, Shiro. Believe me."

"Still.” Shiro grins and touches his shoulder. “You're amazing and she loves you so much."

The baby giggles and gurgles in his arms. Shiro bends his upper body and leans closer to Keith to look down on her: Yorak observes him curiously, dark eyes wandering over his face, halting at the white hair and then at the scar. But she’s not afraid, slowly extends her little hands to him.

"There," Keith smiles and gets her closer to Shiro, so close that she can grip at the white hair and pull.

"She likes you too, already."

Yorak explores Shiro’s hair and then his nose, watchful eyes tracing and holding his gaze. Shiro’s grinning through all of it, but soon her curious and gentle expression morphs into a surprised face and she starts crying. Shiro leans back in his seat to give her more space.

"Not so sure about that." His smile is apologetic. Keith only shrugs.

"She will love you eventually," Keith says with a sincerity that Shiro can only believe him.

A varga later, they arrive at LLungus, a green planet full of tropical plants, fruits and lakes. It reminds Shiro a little of the planet where he and Pidge found the Green lion on. When they come closer to their destination, Keith flies them lower. Both Shiro and Yorak come to the front to look down at the green-blue jungle.

Keith clears his throat as he lets Black drop a little lower, destination already blinking red on the map. "I got us a flat together, I hope that's alright. They don't really have singular rooms."

"Sure." Shiro nods and tickles Yorak a little. In the hour that she slept in his arms, she already got used to his scent and presence.

Keith navigates the Black Lion a few hundred meters away as to not disturb other guests with the landing. When they step out of Black, it feels like they entered a small paradise: many plants and small animals and almost no one but them.

Keith carries Yorak as Shiro carries their bags. Shiro starts thinking that it oddly feels like they are a family. Something begins to bloom in his chest at the thought, but he fights it down.

"Anything you want to do for the first day?"

Keith yawns and rubs his eyes. "Sleep, maybe?"

The smile on Shiro's face is gentle. "I could cook something for us in the meantime?"

Keith raises an eyebrow.

"It'll be edible, I swear. Hunk has been giving me lessons."

"Yeah,” Keith breathes, smile wide. “If want to do that, sure." He marches straight to the bed, sets Yorak down and drops on it himself. As Shiro walks to the kitchen to get two pots and a cutting board out, Keith and Yorak fall asleep on the back. When Shiro looks back, their eyes are closed and bodies lax. The soft snoring makes him smile and he gets back to work. As he cuts a few striped vegetables, he thinks to himself that those few days will probably the most relaxing holiday he had in a while.

Shiro quickly comes to the conclusion that the time with Keith and Yorak is all he ever wanted. There are a few moments where he isn't sure if Keith expects something from him or not. He silently decides to not do anything. They learn new things about each other every day and Shiro can't help feeling sad when it's all over.

The next time he sees Yorak, she's grown a lot.

He's on the Atlas taking a walk, when the young Galra appears on the floor a few meters away. She spots Shiro, babbling giddily, laughing and crawling towards him. He can’t hide his surprise when he takes her up on his arm. “What are you doing here?” he asks her, knowing full well that Yorak won’t suddenly reply to him. He plays with her hand a little, thinking about calling Keith, when he hears a sudden shout from the other side of the corridor.

"Yorak! There you are. Keith would have killed me if I lost you.” It’s Pidge.

She halts in front of Shiro and the child, looking down at Yorak on his arm, still wary of how to act around such a small child.

"Shiro! Thank God!"

Shiro understands her hesitation, it took some time to get used to interact with such a small child.

“Hey,” he greets her softly and waves with the Altean arm. Pidge folds her arms in front of her chest and exhales deeply. The relief is written in her face, seeing Yorak safe in Shiro’s arms. When she holds out her arms to take him back, Shiro holds the child towards her, but the moment he’d be in Pidge’s arms again, she faces Shiro and starts shouting.

"Dada!" Yorak exclaims. They both freeze.

"Oh,” Shiro’s soul leaves his body. He looks from Yorak’s to Pidge’s face. “Is that her first word?”

"Keith will definitely kill me now!" Pidge panics instead of answering. She stares at Yorak in disbelief who repeats the word a few times, basically screams it at Shiro at some point.

"That's her first word! And he's not here to hear it.” Pidge takes Yorak back into her arms. "He was so worried that she’d never speak!" Her eyes are big and uncertain, but Shiro pats her back calmly.

"Let's find him then."

As soon as they come across Keith, Yorak becomes basically mute. She grins and pulls on Shiro's uniform while Pidge explains what happened. Keith looks at him with surprised eyes, purple iris observing him closely.

"Well I'm relieved," he turns to Yorak and gives her a kiss on the head, "at least your talking to Shiro, right?"

Through his eyelashes, Keith looks up to Shiro, smiling a little, private smile. Shiro ignores how his heart jumps, and how badly he wants to sit next to Keith and kiss the smile off his face.

*

Six years later, Yorak still loves escaping from whoever has taken the turn to take care of her. She has grown, and definitely looks taller than children from Earth, but she’s also not as tall as usual Galran kids.

Most important, she’s still fast, up and gone. The Atlas feels like her second home, as she runs up and down the corridors of the vast spaceship, jumping from one place to the next, her endless energy forcing everyone to dodge out of her way. On the way to lunch, Shiro catches her and swings her up onto his shoulder. "Are you escaping again?" He asks gleefully.

"’Mmm not, dad." She pouts but the second Shiro moves with her on his shoulders, she forgets about it already. Shiro bobs while he walks, making her giggle.

Shiro laughs, too. "Let's go find your daddy, then."

They simply don't know why Yorak started calling him dad six years ago, but that’s what Shiro is for her since then. Keith said he can explain to her that it’s not how things are, but Shiro always shakes his head when he offers.

“If that's what I am for her, I'm honored." He tells Keith and takes his hand. Keith eyes cast down and he blushes. "Yeah," he breathes.

*

The situation could be easier, but it isn’t. Even though Keith comes visit, they still live a few light years apart, and they both don’t try to ruin what they have.

In the meantime, they both aren't exactly... abstinent. Keith has an intense relationship with someone from the Betelgeuse belt over the years, but the break-up is hard and merciless and Yorak hates ‘the guy who broke daddy’s heart’. She can’t comprehend that Keith wasn't guilty of them breaking up, too, but he can’t possibly tell her that.

There have been fights prior to it and when the end of their relationship is final, Keith is angry and sad. He’s thankful for Shiro’s offer to come over instantly, flying with a tiny private ship to him. He carries a flask of Nunvill and offers words of comfort and together they talk the whole night, cursing Keith’s ex and having a frankly good time.

Too bad it ends up with both of them drunk of their asses. They exchange a few soft kisses until they stop for their own good, and Shiro returns to the Atlas the next day, never mentioning those kisses again.

While Keith celebrates himself being a happy and content single, and a proud single dad on top of it all, Shiro throws himself into a loveless friends-with-benefits relationship. The guy is hot and new on the Atlas Crew and very eager to get into Shiro’s bed. Shiro thinks it’s good as long as their relationship is clear and they don’t date, enjoys it all until one of them catches feelings. The guy files a sexual harassment complaint the day Shiro suggests them to break up, realizing that not everyone is as good to separate a physical relationship from feelings. The guy doesn’t take it well.

Gladly he drops the lawsuit when Shiro apologizes to him, and when he falls head over heels for someone else and decides to leave the Atlas. Keith comes by to congratulate Shiro’s luck in having a lawsuit dropped and suggests if Shiro wants to fuck around, he should do so outside of the Atlas. Shiro jokes that it's convenient they are inside Keith's ship.

Unfortunately, they are drunk in a small space again and the joke lands. This time they mess around even more than after Keith’s break-up. Keith's hand slides down Shiro's stomach when the Atlas receives a distress call and Shiro has to get back within a few minutes. He gets his shirt and his feelings in order and leaves for whatever emergency there is.

Deep down they know if they just got their shit together, it could work between them, but they are both too reluctant to take the first step. There’s an unspoken promise for Keith and Shiro to always be there for each other. Unfortunately, there are unspoken feelings, too. Until something else happens, they stay best friends with a child that calls them both 'dad'.

Shiro is subtle about the complications of their relationship, and yet the Atlas gossip rumor mill is rattling every time Keith visits and it doesn’t take long until someone hangs up a big white board with ongoing bets about them starting a relationship in the Atlas employee room.

Allura is the highest bidding person by now and regularly loses her mind about it. Her current bet says, three years from now on they will get together, after losing money to the pool already.

Lance and Hunk stay hopeful. They update their bet every other month when they lose again. They lose, because Keith had to disappear in the middle of the night for a mission and has to cancel a rather romantic appointment with Shiro, or they lose when yet another guy makes a move on Shiro, which happens, to say, pretty often. Shiro is not one to turn them down. He's as popular and notorious for being the “Captain of the Atlas” and he is for being the “Captain of broken hearts”.

Everyone who regularly takes a look at the white board fears that Slav is right. Next to Kinkade's borderline insulting drawing of a muscular Admiral and a drooling Keith, he scribbled an ill-fated "NOT IN THIS REALITY" and a ridiculous high amount of Gac as his own bet.

Pidge gulps when she sees it. James snickers. Hunk secretly fears the day that Shiro will come to the employee room, even though up until now he never went there before. He says it's their space.

In the discussion about Shiro and Keith, Veronica deems to be sure things would move quicker when he’d come by and see the board by accident, but the Admiral objected several late-night invitations to the employee’s room from her already.

The worst thing is, the whole Atlas crew is getting competitive.

While Allura is convinced they are allowed to take their time (and neither Shiro nor Keith seem to be able to uphold a serious relationship over more than a few months anyway), Lance asks Shiro unsuspiciously every other week if he heard of Keith, saw Keith, talked to Keith. It goes far enough that Lance greets him with "How's Keith" every time he sees Shiro, which is …often.

Keith laughs uninterrupted for ten minutes when Shiro voices his suspicion that Lance might have a thing for him.

"He does not," he wheezes and rubs the tears away. "God, Shiro."

"Why not? Would it be that unbelievable?" It's late at night as they talk over the communicator. Shiro watches Keith face crinkle in amusement on the big screen in the Atlas control room.

Keith looks giddy when he says the following. "Self-projecting much, Shiro?”

Shiro's face becomes bright red. "I'm just-" He splutters but doesn't get to finish to stutters out a sad excuse, because Yorak slams the door open with force and enters Keith’s room behind him. The former Black Paladin turns around and welcomes her as she crawls into her dad's lap.

"DAD!" Her shout is ringing, sounding tinny as it gets transmitted to the control room. Shiro smiles widely.

"Hey sweetheart. Miss me?"

"Yes!” Her yells get even louder. “And Daddy does, too!" She shifts in Keith’s lap, impatient pout on her face.

"Oh really? He didn't tell me."

Shiro watches Keith's face grows heated. He first squints at Shiro, then looks down on Yorak who already continued babbling on, telling Shiro about her day involving chasing giant insects on New Daibazaal. Shiro tells her about the Paladins and how Pidge and Lance almost blew something up in the lab in turn. He ends his narration with a moral on always being safe around highly toxic chemicals. Yorak nods in earnest. She soon grows tired and leans against Keith’s stomach and chest, eyes heavy with sleep. Keith brushes her hair out of her face.

"There's actually something I want to talk to you about," he says, positive that Yorak is too tired to listen.

Shiro perks up. "Yeah?"

"I will go on a mission for the next month - some Blades will be there, too. Krolia, too." He sighs. "I don't want to take a stretch with the things you already offer, but I was wondering..."

"I'll take her." Shiro's response comes without hesitation.

"Thanks." Keith exhales audible. Yorak begins to snore.

Shiro watches Keith’s face, then drops his gaze to observe her fondly.

"I'd love to spend more time with her," he confesses. He doesn't see her often year in and out, only whenever Keith visits or calls. He loves Keith's daughter, not only because she comes so much after him. "She was so pumped when I asked her if she wants to stay with you," Keith happily tells him. "She was convinced you'd let her fly Atlas."

Shiro snorts. "Only if she behaves."

Keith’s smile is affectionate; then he casts his eyes down and strokes through Yorak’s thick black hair again.

"I will take her to bed now. Is it okay to drop her at the Atlas next Tuesday?"

“Sure,” Shiro smiles, observing how fond Keith holds her. Shiro thinks he could watch them all night, but he knows they both deserve to rest.

"Good Night, Keith.” His voice is soft and low. “Love you."

"Love you, too. See you next Tuesday."

Keith glances at him after he said his goodbye, and his smile is wary over the otherwise familiar words of goodbye.

The connection ends.

*

Keith brings Yorak to him on Tuesday. When they meet on the Atlas platform, Keith gives him the peck on the lips and a hug that became their go-to greeting in the last years. When they part again, Yorak jumps into Shiro's arms, shouting and babbling about the new refugees that have arrived at the Blades’ headquarters that get taken care of by the Blades.

Shiro hugs her tightly and asks if she wants to hang out with Pidge first, now that she’s here. After the young Galran child agrees, Pidge takes her by the hand, promises her to show her and the new interesting experiment she's working on.

Shiro watches them go. When he turns back to Keith, he can stop hiding his worries.

"Keith.” He takes his hand and gets closer. "It's a dangerous mission, right?"

Keith doesn’t reply, but he doesn’t have to.

"I know you didn't want to say anything," he continues and squeezes the hand he’s holding. Keith looks at him, speechless and surprised.

"You are taking all the Blades. It was obvious,” Shiro explains.

The look Keith gives him then is of defeat. He takes a deep breath before he replies. "It is dangerous, even more than usual. But my greatest worry is that I can't come back to her," he confesses Shiro nods and pulls him closer, into another hug. Keith takes it, taking Shiro’s closeness in. “Also,” he murmurs into Shiro’s ear. “I worry I can’t come back to you.”

“Yeah,” Shiro closes his eyes and smiles into the hug. “I know that feeling.”

They stand like that, hugging for a while, until everyone else boarded the Atlas already and left them alone with their feelings.

"We have until the morning," Keith says as they part, face suddenly looking tired, "let's spend the time together, okay?"

They board the Atlas too, and Shiro asks Allura to take over his duties for the rest of the day.

Keith uses the time to talk to Shiro about Yorak's future and Shiro just sits there with him and listens, eyes never leaving him. Later, they watch both Pidge and Yorak playing on the ground in Pidge's lab.

"How's Kolainos?" Keith asks, nonchalantly, looking at a small robot cat grazes through his legs.

"I stopped seeing him,” Shiro says, voice neutral. “He wanted a relationship.”

"Oh. Another good one to go," Keith jokes and nudges him with his shoulder. Shiro rolls his eyes.

At night Keith prepares to go to bed in Shiro's flat - it goes unsaid that they'll sleep in the same bed.

Yorak is asleep one room away and Keith has a hard time leaving her there. Shiro pulls him away at some point and they lie down in his bed, but neither can really sleep. They lie there facing each other, holding each other's hand. Shiro observes every detail in Keith's face, looks at the purplish glimmer of his eyes, the dark eyebrows and eye lashes, tries to prevent the heartache washing over him, drowning him.

"I don't want her to grow up alone."

"She won't," Shiro tells him and moves closer to give him a kiss on his head.

Keith smiles and closes his eyes, snuggling closer. A few minutes pass between them, silently lying there in the bed, bodies close to each other.

Shiro isn’t prepared for what Keith says next at all.

"If we'd fuck, I bet I could sleep," Keith tells him with a smile on his face. "Tonight might be our last chance to, right?"

Silence stretches between them, and Shiro gives him time to take it back. When he doesn’t, he clears his throat.

"If I'd agree to that," Shiro begins, voice low, "what would your boyfriend from the Blades say to that?" he asks him.

Keith's eyes widen as they glare at him, the purple pupils unfamiliarly dark. He quickly casts his eyes down.

"Who told you?" he asks without missing a beat.

"Let's say Lance warned me," Shiro answers.

Keith sighs. "Fuck Lance."

"You could have told me yourself—"

"I know. I didn't. I'm sorry," Keith says and hides his face in the crook of Shiro’s neck.

Another couple of minutes pass, while Keith tenses and relaxes in his arms.

„I’m afraid what’s going to happen if he's the real deal."

Shiro doesn't say anything to that, a smile frozen on his face as he tries to accept the new information.

"Anyways," Keith exhales, "He told me I should go for it, if, you know, the possibility presents itself."

Shiro breaks into a smile at the waggle of Keith’s eyebrows. Keith laughs too, somehow realizing the hilarity of the situation just now. Shiro brushes his fingers over Keith's cheek.

"Would he propose that too if he knew that you love me?"

Keith’s breath hitches and he casts his eyes away. The smile has fallen from his face, too. Shiro is sure the direct way in which he said it must have hurt him, but they have been going on too long, always dancing around the edge, always talking about it, but never acknowledging it. It’s not a secret, but they treat it as one.

Shiro brushes his human hand over Keith’s back in a calming manner. "It's not our last chance, right?" he says in all sincerity. "Since you won't die."

Keith snickers with closed eyes, and when he opens them again to look at Shiro, they glint like purple diamonds.

"It'll be your last chance if he and I stay together."

Shiro shrugs. "And I'll be glad for you. If he's the real deal, you should hold onto him."

The morning comes earlier than expected, but Keith still can catch a few hours of sleep. They walk to the platform together with hushed whispers and little laughs. When the Blades arrive to pick Keith up, Shiro is able to take a look at the boyfriend.

When they get ready to leave again, Shiro gives Keith a tight hug and a kiss on the head, waits until Yorak said her goodbyes, too. Later he and Yorak sit in the control room of the Atlas, and the little bundle of energy tells him about Keith's boyfriend. He's good to him. Shiro is relieved, even though the jealousy cooks in his veins.

He has one month that he gets to spend with Yorak.

One month to get over Keith.

*

The month with Yorak is amazing and he comes to love the little girl even more than before. He lets her fly the Atlas for a split second before she hits the wrong button and Shiro has to intervene before they wreck the ship (and a planet) together. He stays to listen when her teacher gives her Galran language lessons and watches her practice martial arts with Allura. He's there for facial masks with her and Lance on the weekends or when Hunk bakes her favorite cookies.

Pidge explains her new inventions to her, and sometimes Shiro is there to listen, too. Yorak understands more than he does, but it’s okay. He’s a pilot, not an engineer.

At night he lays awake, thinks of Keith, worries and convinces himself that Keith will make it out alive.

There’s fear gnawing at the edges, but Shiro has trust in his abilities. He hopes he and his boyfriend make it, become happy together, and somewhere in the mix Shiro can slowly pull himself out of his life and heal the heartbreak that is yet to come over him and drag him down.

When he plays with Yorak in his free time, he keeps thinking about a way to explain to her that he plans to stay out of Keith's life.

He can't bring himself to do it. He doesn't want not to be in Yorak's life. At night he argues with himself and decides that it’ll be fine. It's okay if he gets hurt in the long run. He was okay with Keith having boyfriends before. It just never seemed so final, or as if there wasn’t a backdoor open for him.

Maybe... just _maybe_ a short break from any contact with Keith will help as soon as he’s back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keeping his distance from Keith naturally backfires.

The first news about the Blades reach him on a Monday.

15 people presumed dead. Shiro tries not to think about it. He tries to believe that Keith made it.

He brings Yorak in a small ship and together with Romelle they make a small trip to Balmera. He doesn't sleep for three days until he gets the first message from Keith.

"On our way back home. Many haven't made it. Krolia, me and Kolivan are fine. So is Eron."

Shiro breathes a sigh of relief and brings Yorak to a space mall that day. He treats himself and her to two big bowls of hot space ice cream. Yorak is overjoyed at the news of Keith coming back soon.

"Can Daddy pick you up, too?" She asks him. "Can we go home together?"

Shiro smiles and hugs her. "Sadly no. But you can visit me anytime."

On a Sunday Keith comes alone to pick Yorak up. He holds her tight and peppers her head with kisses. Shiro upholds a safe distance, but hugs Keith, too.

"So glad you're back," he tells him. Keith smiles, but all energy has left his eyes.

"Me, too." He tells him. They don’t stay the night at the Atlas. Keith brings Yorak home directly.

The next couple of nights are awfully empty to Shiro who got used to be woken up at 6 am in the morning, He calls Yorak every week and listens to her talk and it soothes him. Most of the time, Krolia is present, too. Unlike Keith, who he hasn’t seen in weeks, who also hasn’t contacted him either. Shiro tries not to think to hard about it, but his mind flies to images of Keith and his boyfriend, happy about getting out of the mission alive. Happy with each other.

It hurts in a way that Shiro can’t push it away from him anymore. He doesn’t go out of his own way to contact Keith, and in return, he’s radio-silent, too.

A few weeks later, there’s an incoming call late at night. Shiro is relieved to see his face again, even if it’s tired and drawn out. He wonders if Keith remembers their conversation from before the mission, but never mentions it throughout their talk.

Keith shares the result of the mission, talks about who died and who didn’t. They talk for hours after, too and Shiro realizes, he could never get tired of Keith’s soft face over the screen, when it’s late at night he’s getting sleepy.

"I missed your voice, Shiro,” he says after a couple of minutes of silence, only their breathing audible.

Shiro freezes, inhales a sharp breath. He got himself lost in the conversation, lost in the feeling, lost in the relief that Keith called him, wanted to talk with him.

"Uhm. That's nice of you." It's all he manages to answer. Keith raises a tired eyebrow at him.

Shiro remembers the weeks of arguing with himself before bed. Something has to change.

"Listen, Keith," he begins and fumbles with his hands. Keith’s eyes are closed by now, a little smile on his face.

"Listening," he yawns.

Shiro takes another breath. Like a band-aid, he encourages himself silently.

"I know the timing is bad, but I thought we should maybe... not contact each other that often."

Keith opens his eyes just enough to take a look at him and squints at the screen.

"Why?"

"You know why," Shiro simply states.

Keith doesn't answer for a whole minute.

"Fine." Suddenly he doesn't sound sleepy. He sounds angry.

The call ends abruptly.

He doesn't hear from Keith for months. He tries his best to uphold a weekly phone call with Yorak, but she quickly catches wind of it.

Shiro is left to explain the mess but doesn't know how, so he's only telling her that Keith and he are both currently a bit unhappy. It's the understatement of the year.

On the Atlas, Shiro notices the looks of sympathy from all the Paladins. Gladly the word doesn’t go outside of the inner circle of his friends.

He goes on his everyday life as usual, works, flies the Atlas, works out in the gym. He dodges every flirting attempt from the guys around him. There are multiple reasons why he’s not in the mood for it.

Focusing on work enables him to partly ban Keith from his mind, especially two months when they haven't talked again. He misses him more then words can say, and it’s evident everyone sees how shitty Shiro feels on his face.

Just a little, he thinks. Someday I’m over it.

Then one day he finds a paper of his accepted holiday request on his desk.

The issue is, he never turned a request in.

He asks Kinkade (who's in charge for those).

"Uhhh," the MFE fighter shrugs, "You used to file them whenever the Red Paladin takes his holiday, right?"

"Yeah but–"

"Rizavi said it's okay to turn in the request directly when we hear about Kogane. She also said you planned something for Yorak's 7th birthday."

"Oh no," Shiro groans. "Don't tell me—"

"I sent the invitations out, no worries. Keith should get his right now."

Kinkade winks at him. Shiro starts sweating.

"Shit," he curses. Shit indeed.

He hopes Keith misses the invitation or it somehow gets lost on his way. Shiro totally forgot that he booked them a holiday a few months before, so he, Keith, Krolia and Yorak could go together. He really would like to spare himself the embarrassment of Keith getting a mail out of the blue after two months of no contact.

First, he thinks Keith either ignored it or it never arrived. Then, a few days later, Keith messages him. "Thanks for the invitation. We'll come."

It's short, no emojis, no smileys, but full stops.

Shiro doesn't know if he should feel relieved, by the lack of direct anger towards him and just go and enjoy the holiday. But then he remembers Keith's boyfriend.

Hopefully he won't bring him, too.

They meet on a planet not far from Earth with a small holiday resort. There are water pools everywhere. Not only that but colorful water slides and green spots as far as the eye can see.

The little family consisting of Krolia, Keith and Yorak already arrived a few hours prior to when Shiro walks up to greet them. Krolia wears a big sun hat and holds Yorak's hand. Keith is wearing sunglasses, standing there, frozen in place.

At least Yorak shouts gleefully at the sight of Shiro, runs towards him and lets herself thrown into the air a few times, giggles and screams in excitement.

"Happy birthday, Yorak." He smiles at her widely. If anything, he took on the bravery to meet her. Otherwise he'd probably chickened out.

After he put Yorak down again, he takes her hand and walks towards Krolia and Keith and hands over the key cards to their rooms. He hugs Krolia first and then carefully opens his arms for Keith.

He hugs him too. Shiro tries to hide his relief and hugs back.

*

The first day passes quickly. Shiro spends as much time as he can in the water with Yorak. They play ball, take on the water slides and splash in the kids pool together.

Whenever Keith looks at him throughout the day, Shiro casts his eyes down, unable to meet his gaze. He and Krolia are lying on the grass, sunbathing for the day. They talk from time to time, but mostly just relax.

When they all turn in for an early night, Shiro stays out because he just knows he won’t be able to sleep at night.

He sits down at a small bar not far from the pool. The dimly lit bar seems friendly and welcoming, so he orders a drink and takes a seat. Aside from him there are only two other guests with one of them throwing a few glances at him from time to time.

Shiro, in return, smiles at the guy and takes a sip. He smiles back and takes Shiro’s friendliness as an invitation to move over and sit with him.

"Long day?" he asks. Shiro laughs.

"It's a holiday resort. How could anyone have a long day here?"

"True,” the guy ponders and smiles to himself. “Yet you're looking like you desperately need a massage."

He takes a sip of his drink.

Oh. Shiro turns his head. Then his heart pumps rapidly. Oh.

"I think I can do without," he says, not wanting to lose a companion to talk to for this evening.

"As you wish," he tells him and throws him a grin. "If there's anything else that makes you relaxed, let me know."

Shiro briefly wonders if he offers drugs or a hook-up. Possibly both.

"I'm not looking for anything tonight. Thank you, though." He sounds all proper and orders another drink.

The guy grabs for his hand, but then somebody shoves himself between Shiro and him. "Hey," Keith says softly as he practically pushes the guy from his seat with his ass (even though nobody's sitting at Shiro's right side and he could have perfectly sat down there, too). "Sorry for making you wait," Keith lies and presses a kiss to Shiro's temple.

"Oh babe," Shiro grins, ready to play that game, "it's fine."

"I would always wait for you," Shiro adds smoothly. Under Keith’s glaring gaze, the guy from earlier slowly pulls back into another corner of the room.

"I'm having what he has," Keith tells the barkeeper who quickly goes to work, slicing lemons with all of his six hands.

"Fancy you seeing here."

Shiro waits for him to take a sip of his drink.

Keith ignores him and cuts right to the point. "Hooking up at a family resort? Classy, Shiro."

He laughs. "You once told me to go look outside of the Atlas back then. Now you're scolding me again?"

"I couldn't have told you more directly aside from telling you to look in the two people ship we were sitting in, right? Back then."

Shiro blinks at him for a few seconds.

"Aren't we a little bit too old for this dumb game of jealousy that you're playing?" Shiro asks him. Keith slams his mouth shut.

"I didn't plan to hook up with him," Shiro adds softly, realizing his own harsh words.

Keith only nods into his drink, deeply exhales into the glass and makes it bubble. He looks troubled, not angry, brows furrowed, eyes locked onto the fruity liquid in front of him. Shiro gives himself a push. He never wanted them to lose their friendship, too.

"I'm sorry for last time, Keith. I didn't want to cut us off just like that."

"Why did you do that?" Keith asks him quietly. "You said you'd never give up on me."

Shiro takes a deep breath.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't. I just needed some distance."

Unexpectedly, Keith takes his hand.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," he says.

Shiro squeezes his hand.

"I know."

They don't say anything for a while. The sound of the waves hits their ears softly, just as the quiet music from the bar does.

"There were times when I woke up from a nightmare," Keith tells him, "And it's not Haggar or Zarkon that haunt me." He swallows the lump in his throat before he continues. "It's a dream of you finding someone you care for and leaving for forever."

"Keith, those relationships all weren’t... really relationships. You _knew_ that."

"I know. I still was afraid that you'd find someone that loves you, who isn't too scared to be with you."

"Keith," Shiro says and pulls him into his arms. "You will be happy. I will be your friend, always." He thinks of Keith's boyfriend. He should have invited him too, in the end. He wants to see him happy after all.

Keith clings to him tightly. "Yeah," Keith breathes after a while.

"Will you still talk to me, Shiro? If I give you time?"

Shiro looks at him and in his heart, he's unsure. This heartbreak will last for a while.

"Of course."

In the night he brings Keith back to his and Krolia's room and goes back to his alone. The next few couple of days are a lot easier. Shiro gets to play with Yorak and additionally gets to see Keith's smiles. He's glad things have worked out in the end. He just has to get over his feelings. No _biggie_.

They celebrate Yorak's birthday with a cake on the third day. She's not exactly happy about the blade that Keith gifts her but loves the small rover Shiro got for her from Pidge.

Shiro snorts about the face Keith's making and Keith shoves some of the cake into Shiro's grinning face. He doesn't pull his fingers away when Shiro licks them. At first. Krolia clears her throat and Keith takes his hand away. Yorak laughs giddily while she plays with the rover.

Shiro hopes they are not overstepping any lines together.

"I'm sorry I didn't invite Eron," he tells Keith at the fifth day.

The black-haired man looks at him surprised.

"Uh, yeah,” he starts. “I kind of didn't tell you about that."

They are sitting at the beach while Krolia and Yorak are playing in the ocean.

"About what?" Shiro's heart starts pumping.

"We broke up. During the mission, Shiro. It was horrible."

Shiro stares at him, mouth open. "Why are you telling me this now?" he asks him. He still can't believe it - Keith said he might be the one for him...

"The evening I wanted to tell you... you said you wanted your distance. I kind of thought, I don't know. Maybe you found someone, or that you were sick of me."

"Keith, no," he says, devastated. "None of that. It just... hurt, thinking that we finally missed our last chance. I wanted you to be happy. I also didn't want to die of heartbreak."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Shiro repeats. His heart is beating so fast, it's dizzying. Krolia and Yorak come back out of the water. Keith looks at him like he had forgiven him, his eyes also reflecting ... longing.

It takes another day for Shiro to process that information. They take a ridiculous salsa lesson on the next day and stumble over their feet and somewhere in between, Keith tells him that he deeply, undeniably, irrevocably loves Shiro.

It takes another day of horrible pining and staring at each other, not knowing what to do with, finally, their chance to make things work, for them to understand it. It's noon and Shiro watches Keith coming out of the water, body glittering from the water rippling down. It's _not_ a new piece of information that Keith is hot. But unashamedly being allowed to look (again) slowly makes Shiro lose his composure.

Keith grins when he notices Shiro staring, and lies down right next to him. "Can you help me applying sunscreen?" Keith asks him with a sly smile and rolls onto his stomach.

"Sure," Shiro says, soul leaving his body as he looks down at the muscular back. For once he’s happy that Krolia and Yorak are away to get snacks and won't see him drooling.

He starts working the sunscreen into Keith’s skin, sitting on his lower back. Out of Keith’s mouth leaves small, erotic moans and Shiro’s mind clouds.

"I've been thinking," Keith starts and tries to turn around. Shiro raises his hips a bit and lets him. He mindlessly rubs the sunscreen into Keith's chest and abdomen top. "I've been thinking," Keith repeats, "that now that we're both single, I could come to your room, get on your dick and ride you all night."

Shiro's brain is a mess and out of reflex he squeezes all of the sunscreen out of the container, smearing it all over him. Krolia comes back, raises an eyebrow at Shiro. She and Yorak both are licking popsicles and look way more relaxed than Shiro does.

"Dad what did you do?" Yorak exclaims and points at the sunscreen.

"Hell yeah, what did you do, Shiro?" Keith grins a devilish grin. Shiro looks helplessly at him.

The day passes without another sunscreen incident. In the afternoon, Shiro goes and buys lube and condoms.

_Juuuuust_ in case.

They eat dinner together - Keith and Shiro hold hands. Yorak notices it just as much as Krolia does. The child looks happy. "You made up?" she asks them giddily. Keith nods and pats her head.

"Yeah we did," he tells her and throws Shiro a happy look. Shiro gets through dinner and an evening show even though he would love to be... alone with Keith right now.

It's okay, he tells himself, even though it's hard, very hard to wait. His mind wanders back to what Keith said constantly.

When they turn in for the night, he's relieved but he's also a bundle of nerves. Will Keith really come to him?

He's waiting and its past midnight already - then there's a knock at his door. 

Keith comes to his room later than planned, but he doesn’t miss a beat. His hands are on Shiro the moment he slams the door closed and Shiro reciprocates, sinks his fingers into Keith’s hair, draws him close. Keith snorts and they break away for a second, Shiro is grinning widely. “It felt like hours until they fell asleep,” Keith tells him and steals another kiss.

“I’m just glad you’re here,” Shiro murmurs into the kiss. They don’t talk about anything – this night isn’t reserved for talking but feeling. Shiro undresses him as he pins Keith against the wall, hurriedly; they can slow down later.

When Keith kisses him again, he hikes him on his hips, presses him against the wall again, deepens the kiss. Keith is light like a feather and his lips are oh, so hot on him.

“Fuck, Shiro,” he moans and grinds his crotch against Shiro’s stomach. He’s already hard, but so is Shiro.

“It was so hard not thinking about you all day,” Shiro tells him between kisses, “I want nothing more than bend you over and fuck you hard, baby.”

Keith groans again, motions Shiro to let him down again. When Shiro lets him slip out of his grip, Keith is quickly on him again, palming him through his pants. It takes seconds for him to pull both the pants and underwear down and he’s on his knees, pumping Shiro’s dick, wasting no time teasing him first.

The groans that leave Shiro’s mouth are devastating – he has to steady himself with one hand at the wall, especially when he feels Keith’s lips and tongue on him.

Keith takes him into his mouth within seconds, swallows him so deep it has Shiro shouting out of pleasure.

“Wait, wait—” Shiro stutters. His thighs and ass are flexing from the intensity of the touch. Keith let’s his dick fall from his mouth and looks up. He’s beautiful, incredibly so – it takes everything to not let him continue sucking him off and thrusting into his mouth, too.

“You promised,” Shiro says, voice deep, “you’d ride me all night—”

“I fucking did,” Keith grins up at him. Shiro brushes his hair out of his face. “But we also have all night, Shiro.”

He stands up nonetheless, arms slinging around Shiro’s neck, pulling him close again.

“I love you,” Keith whispers as they breath and exhale the same air, pressing their foreheads together.

“I love you too.” Shiro’s voice is soft and they slow a bit down as they sit down on the bed.

“You want to do this?” Shiro asks again – just to make sure. “I won’t run away. You have me; I’ll always be yours—”

“I know,” Keith answers. “I know now. I still want to, I just…waited for so long.”

“Me too,” Shiro tells him and kisses him again.

Keith is a babbling mess by the time he’s prepared – it doesn’t take long. He spreads his legs wide and fucks himself on Shiro’s fingers as if it wasn’t a completely new experience. Shiro tries hard not to come at the sight of Keith who’s flushed red, fully hard and leaking.

“I’m ready,” he tells Shiro and gets up, pushes him into the cushions with a trained move. He climbs on him within seconds, strokes Shiro a few times and pulls the condom on him.

“Come here,” Keith says with a loving gaze at him, presses his lips at his, with feeling. Shiro takes in his flushed face, his longing eyes, his black hair that falls over his body in curls – it’s devastatingly beautiful.

Keith hovers over him and kisses him intensely as he lets his ass brush Shiro’s cock.

“Fuck,” he groans, “fuuckk, ah—Keith, you’re a tease!”

Keith grins in return, rolls his hips to brush his cock again and again – Shiro lays there, pliant, unable to move, amazed by the sensation.

“Fuck, babe—”

Keith presses his lips against him again, in a hot, messy kiss. He steadies Shiro’s cock and sinks down slowly, adjusting to the sensation, taking in all the hot gasps and groans that leave Shiro’s lips. “God—”

He takes a few seconds until he moves, but when he does, he rides him in quick hard movements with his hips. He holds Shiro’s hand and Shiro holds his, Keith loves his stutters of “I love you” and gives them right back, groans at the feeling of Shiro finally thrusting his hips up against him until both their movements grow erratic and uncoordinated.

“Shiro, Shiro,” Keith mewls as he moves, leans down to kiss him again. He feels Shiro’s thighs contracting beneath him, feels his hands at his hips and in turn steadies himself on Shiro’s chest.

“Harder, Shiro, fuck me, god, fuck me harder,” he shouts with every thrust – a few seconds before everything becomes blinding white. He shudders and gasps hard while Shiro carefully moves upwards for a few thrusts and comes in him.

“That felt like an outer body experience,” he tells him later, when they cleaned themselves up and cuddle close.

Keith can’t stop kissing Shiro’s chest and mouth, can’t stop touching his face and hair.

“I love you, so much,” Shiro kisses his hand and pulls him closer.

“Me too, Shiro.” Keith kisses him and gets comfortable at his side.

They fall asleep soon after - and wake up late at noon. Keith sends Krolia a quick message. There’s no reason in hiding from her… where he's been. He tells her that they will come soon.

In the harsh light of the sun that falls through the window, reality sets in again. "Keith," Shiro kisses his hand gently. They still lie in bed naked, the sensation of being able to feel each other's skin and body still new, still overwhelming.

"Yeah," Keith says softly back, then nothing.

"We should talk about some things," Shiro suggests.

"I know."

Even though they want to be together, there are a few factors that make it more complicated. For one, they cannot suddenly present a change in their relationship in front of Yorak.

"I don't believe it won't work out," Keith tells him as he kisses over his skin down his stomach. "But if we break up," Shiro adds and watches Keith's head move downwards, "it will be her heartbreak, too."

"It's still not like we hide it."

"It probably won't be that different from before," Shiro chuckles - then hisses.

"Maybe we should enjoy this week first." Keith continues to kiss Shiro's thighs and pelvis. “And then see what happens.”

"Yeah," Shiro breathes and tries hard to not push his hips up. "Yeah," he says, breath getting quicker.

"For now, I'd love another round."

Keith grins at him, takes the head of Shiro's cock into his mouth.

Shiro's head is dizzy, he lifts his hips again, forgets about everything else but the feeling of Keith's mouth on him. They meet Krolia and Yorak an hour later at the pool, trying hard to act like there's no reason why Keith left his room in the middle of the night only to turn up hours later.

Shiro wants to touch Keith constantly, but he holds back. Krolia's watchful gazes do their part. In the evening, they sit near the beach to eat dinner and Yorak insists on sitting between them.

"I'm taking a picture," Krolia says and smiles softly - Shiro shuffles closer to Yorak and Keith and slings an arm around them both. She says a Galran word Shiro doesn't understand, both Keith and Yorak repeat it and smile widely before Krolia pushes the trigger.

As Shiro and Yorak take a walk at the beach, Keith gets himself and Krolia each a bottle of water. When he comes back, he notices her watchful gaze.

They sit in silence and drink their water.

"What?" Keith can't sit still with his mom watching him the whole time. "I won't push you to talk to me," she says, straight to the point. Keith sighs, but says nothing. They watch Shiro and Yorak run from the waves from afar.

"Last night Yorak asked where you are. You can't just disappear the whole night, Keith."

Keith's heart flutters at their sight.

"You don't need to lecture me, mom. I have everything under control."

Krolia ruffles his head.

"Do you?" she asks.

"Yes, mom."

"Now you sound like Yorak when you tell her to eat her blubberbork."

"I don't."

It's childish, Keith knows. He wants to tell Krolia, but he can't exactly tell her that Shiro and him fucked all night and did not talk about a lot else to clarify their relationship... or how they will continue from now on.

"Will you tell me what happened with Shiro?"

"Eventually." Keith rubs his face. When a deep growl leaves Krolia's mouth, Keith takes a deep breath.

"We need to figure things out first. And it's hard to manage, like, we can't exactly tell Yorak we're dating."

"She calls you both 'dad'. I sure think you can."

"What if it doesn't work out? And we break up."

"Will you let that happen?" she asks him.

"Never. I will hold onto him." He says it without hesitation.

Krolia just raises her eyebrow.

"You know I'm afraid. Don't make me say it, mom."

Krolia looks up from him and glances at Yorak laughing about Shiro falling into the sand. "Let's make a deal," Krolia says, "this last week I will take Yorak to every-," she aspirates the word, "-annoying evening kids show there is. You and Shiro tag along 3 times. The other ones you are free to do whatever."

"Am I not free to do whatever I like anyways?"

"Only if you pay your babysitter the next time." Krolia grins.

The first evening they all go together. Yorak has a blast and so does Shiro. Krolia and Keith both try hard to not look bored while watching the show.

The second evening is free for them.

"I don't know what we will do about the long distance, you on the Atlas, I'm at the Blades headquarters." Keith tells, trying hard to finally talk about things as Shiro closes his mouth around his dick.

"Fuck, like this. Fuuck. Shiro-"

"We need to find a way to see each other," Keith sighs as Shiro rips the condom package open, "This won't work if we only see each other once a month - or less."

Shiro nods, but he's also busy. Keith tries hard to concentrate, but who seriously can when Shiro is right there, fully naked, flushed and cock hard.

"God," Keith groans as he strokes himself, "I need you in me. Like, right now."

Shiro grins and moves forward, slicking himself up before he positions himself between Keith's legs.

"Fu... fuckkk-"

*

"Did you two figure things out?" Krolia asks him over breakfast.

"We're....working on it," Keith mumbles into his coffee cup, cheeks red. Krolia throws him a glance. She doesn't have to repeat 'working out' in an unconvinced tone, but she still does.

Keith gets himself another round of pancakes to escape that situation.

*

The next free evening, Shiro is roaming all over Keith's body with his hands-

\- and Keith is about to forget his priorities _again_, but this time he holds Shiro's hands still.

"We have to talk about this eventually—"

"We can?" Shiro's smug grin appears on his face. Keith sighs and has to grin too, but then he gets serious.

"Really."

Shiro sits down.

"I know. Sorry."

"What are we going to do about the long-distance relationship?"

"I don't know."

"And Yorak? Should we tell her?"

"No idea-"

"Did you think about any of this?" Keith's forehead wrinkles.

"I did Keith. I didn't come up with a good solution."

Keith sits next to him, holds his hand. "Yorak will be the slightest issue," Keith explains. "She loves you anyways."

"I love her too, you both." Shiro smiles his small, guarded smile. "You both have been my family."

Keith's heart melts and he gives Shiro a kiss on his cheek.

"You can't leave the Bom. It's her home."

"You can't leave the Atlas. It's yours. _And_ it's your job. Who will fly it?"

Keith brushes the hair on Shiro's forehead out of his face.

"Shiro," Keith says, "Is there a possibility that this won't work no matter how much we want it?"

Shiro takes Keith's head in his hands. "Keith," he says, looking him directly in the eye. "It will work. I won't give up on this. Not now, not when we come close to having it. I love you. We will figure it out. Maybe not now or tomorrow but somehow we will."

Keith smiles, eyes watery.

"I love you, too, Shiro."

They spend the time talking and kissing comfortably on the bed until Keith goes back and slides into the room in the middle of the night.

A few days later, Yorak asks him.

"Daddy, are you visiting Dad when you go away at night?"

Keith is too perplexed to answer. But she isn't dumb of course she knows.

"Yeah," he admits.

She plays with the sand - their sandcastle looks a lot like the pics of the Castle of Lion Allura showed her before.

"Are you going on dates at night? Why?"

Keith sighs.

"Uuuuuuhhh," Keith says and plays with the sand too. "Didn't want to surprise you."

"It's not a surprise, daddy."

"Fine," Keith laughs, "We just love romantic walks at the beach at night." He hears Shiro snort a few feet away.

"Can I come with you next time?"

Keith nods, settling for the thought that tomorrow they won’t be hiding away in Shiro’s room. "Yeah. Next time we go to the beach with you."

They take Yorak with them to the beach. Shiro shows her all the stars constellations and makes up stories about them. Keith gives Shiro kisses to reward his silliness. Yorak gets kisses on her cheek, too. They both hold her hand and walk over the sand bare foot.

"I love you," Keith says to Shiro with confidence.

"And you, too, you little crab." He nudges Yoraks and draws a few giggles out of her.

"She's not a crab," Shiro insists and blows raspberries on her arm, "She's a Galra princess."

"Yes!" Yorak shouts more like a warrior than a princess and they all giggle. "I love you both, too."

*

The holiday ends too soon, and they are back in their respective worlds. Dating with responsible full-time jobs is harder than expected –

Keith tries as hard as he can to come meet Shiro as often as he can.

Which isn't often.

But they'll make it work - one year passes until they run out of fuel.

The times in which they miss each other become harder. Keith cries when they call each other, desperately wanting to meet Shiro again when he can't. Shiro tries to cheer him up, but he feels the same.

Keith wants nothing more than to be with him. He's talking about giving up the Blades and working on the Atlas again. Shiro opts against it, feels bad if Keith gives something up that's dear to him when he doesn't.

It keeps getting harder - they become exhausted. But one day, Shiro gets an idea.

He calls Krolia and talks to her first, talks to his crew and then Allura. An intensive training begins, not for him, but for her. He takes the crystal from his arm and leaves it on the Atlas. He talks to Yorak, in private and she's on fire for his idea and promises to not tell Keith. Shiro wants to surprise him.

Not telling Keith is... crazy, but on the other hand, the younger man once fell in love with the guy who dives off cliffs.

One day, all the preparations are made and Allura gives him the okay. He takes the small ship fit for four people and flies it to the Marmora headquarters. He only gives Keith a call when he lands on the platform in front of the headquarters and walks out of his ship.

Keith comes outside, surprised to see him, but Yorak runs past him directly to Shiro and jumps into his arms. He holds her tightly and peppers her head with kisses.

"What are you doing, Shiro?" Keith asks, voice staggering. He eyes the ship behind him.

Krolia comes a couple of seconds out to the platform, too, wide smile on her face.

"I'm doing what I love," Shiro grins bashfully down at him, takes a few steps closer.

"What? Flying a cool brand-new spaceship?" Keith laughs, giddy. Shiro halts in front of him, face flushed.

"Leaving," he states.

Keith's eyes widen. "What-" Keith starts but Shiro doesn't let him continue.

"With you," he continues. "I'm leaving with you. You. Yorak and Krolia."

Keith doesn't say anything for a minute - Shiro hopes he didn't push his luck. Keith opens his mouth, then closes it.

"The Atlas—"

"Allura pilots it now."

"The Blades—"

"I recruited two people to make up for you and Krolia."

"You did what?"

"I went around and asked people if they want to join a cool space ninja club. And I volunteered, too. Starting next year."

Keith stares at him, mouth open.

"You ARE crazy." A small smile creeps onto his face.

"You love it, remember?" Shiro hopes he does.

Keith takes two steps and hugs him tightly, together with Yorak.

"We will explore space together?" he asks him, still unable to process it all. "Yes!" Yorak shouts in her usual strong voice.

"And you knew that??" Keith asks Yorak in disbelief, tickles her armpits.

"Yes!"

"I did, too." Krolia says in the background, grinning.

Keith is close to tear up again. "Shiro," he croaks, "Shiro, this is amazing."

"Let's go, sweethearts,” Krolia commands. “Keith, I packed your shit. I hope I got all of it." She moves first, boards the ship and gets into the pilot seat.

"I want the best for my family," Shiro tells Keith, shy and happy at the same time.

Keith stares at him in disbelief, open mouth forming a smile. “Shiro,” he sighs. "This is the absolute best."

Right after they board the ship together, Keith examines every little thing. It’s really brand-new, and with a big smile, he approves of it.

"I don't think you could surpass this surprise. Ever." He gives Shiro multiple kisses.

"I think I could come up with something," Shiro mutters.

Krolia starts the engine as they get seated. Shiro hugs Keith close as Yorak is watching her grandma with interest, only taking a step back when she starts pushing buttons.

Shiro watches them and feels like the happiest person in the world to have them all by his side. Yorak, Krolia and Keith.

And off they take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all know that the surprise Shiro plans which could surpass this one is to ask Keith to marry him. Little does he know that Keith will ask first.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to recommend this fic to others, feel free to link or retweet this [Tweet](https://twitter.com/CruelisB/status/1175841666093240320?s=19)!
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